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the battle which was momentarily expected.
Even as the thought suggested itself, the enemy's shells came over and fell among the troops.
The ground descended rapidly toward the West where the regiment lay upon its arms, holding the right of Dana's line on the railroad and watching the wagon trains hurrying to a place of safety.
The woods toward Peach Orchard were full of the enemy who were constantly firing.
The dust in the road in front was ankle deep and rose in dense clouds, enveloping everything.
The men were exhausted and many were ill.
During the battle at Peach Orchard, the band and field musicians of the regiment were busily employed at the field hospital of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, in carrying the wounded from the field and caring for them, also in assisting to build operating benches for the surgeons.
At about 10 A. M., there was a sudden stopping on the firing line and Surgeon Revere of the Twentieth Massachusetts, in charge of the brigade field hospital, ordered principal musician Stephen I. Newman of the Nineteenth to go forward and ascertain the meaning of the cessation.
As Newman reached the spot where his regiment had been stationed, to his surprise, not only that regiment but the entire Second Corps had moved toward Savage's Station and were nowhere in sight.
There were a number of wounded who had been left behind, near the halting place at the railroad.
When the condition of affairs had been reported to Surgeon Revere, he immediately ordered that saplings and straight, slim branches suitable for stretcher poles be cut, also that pieces of shelter tents be collected with which to construct stretchers on which to carry the wounded to a safer location.
Field Musicians Lord and McCammon, of Company A, each carried a hatchet for this purpose.
Some musicians in the bands of the Third Brigade had been heard to say that all the regimental bands in the volunteer regiments were to be mustered out of the service on or before August 21, 1862.
Principal Musician Newman reported this fact to Surgeon Revere and suggested that the safety and care of the wounded men was of more importance than a few old
Salem Press. Co., Salem, Ma., 1906.
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